Posts Tagged Garden

“Smartweed is in the buckwheat family. Buckwheat itself is believed to have originated in China long, long ago. Unlike grains such as oats and wheat, buckwheats are not part of the grass family; they’re on their own. Buckwheat makes delicious pancakes, and the bees turn the pollen into prized honey. However, as the smartweeds go, there’s an Asian variety that’s used like cilantro, but our 96 varieties generally aren’t safe to for human consumption.” via Wildflowers – Smartweed: Be Grateful that it’s Pretty – from the Monday Garden.

I bought an ‘herb garden planter’ and it includes and herb called Vietnamese Coriander that looks just like a weed I’ve got in my yard… my web-snooping has determined that the herb is Persicaria odorata, while the weed is one – or more- of 96 varieties of smartweed/pinkweed that are invasive throughout North America. And the weed is not edible.

As I mentioned during March’s spring fever, I have been plotting an experiment in propagating more Japanese dappled willow shrubs around my back garden. I finally started the big propagation experiment today. See the comments on this post for progress updates.

I clipped off a dozen or two soft shoots of my large Salix integra Hakuri Nishiki and dropped them into a bucket of water.

I chose four sheltered locations around the perimeter of my yard, none of them in full sun. Some are mostly shade, others are partial sun. The soil is heavy clay, and this spring it’s been thoroughly soaked by three months of rain.

On my spring task wish-list: make some more Salix integra Hakuri Nishiki. There’s a willow fence nearby, between some houses and a big-box store. I would love to make one of those! Update – the experiment is underway – see how it’s going.

Dappled willows are smaller trees or large shrubs that grow somewhere around 10 feet tall. They could be taller or smaller depending on the soil conditions. Willows can be propagated very easily just by sticking a hardwood branch in soil and Read the rest of this entry »

After my spirea rant about spirea from seed and from root-sprouting, I am taking a quick look around wordpress to see if anyone else mentions vigorously self-seeding spirea.

I like the following post – easy to read, informative.

I assume that my spirea is some variety of spiraea japonica.

Botanically, they’re spiraea; the common name is spelled Spirea without the extra ‘a’ — Bridal Wreath Spirea.Starting with the summer spiraeas, which caused me to think of this post, is Spiraea japonica and its hybrids, Spiraea x bulmalda. All are low summer bloomers with pink flowers. ‘Goldmound’ ‘Goldflame”Limemound’ ‘Anthony Waterer’ and ‘Coccinea’ are a few familiar names. I pruned my S. bulmaldas, nameless cuttings given me some years ago, … Read More